Villanova PA: March Madness is in full swing for Men’s & Women’s basketball & that is what we had on Friday night as the Villanova Wildcats took on the Old Dominion Monarchs in the first round of the Women’s National Invitational Tournament (WNIT) from Finneran Pavilion on the campus of Villanova University. Villanova comes into the game 18-12 on the season while Old Dominion is 21-10 on the season.
In the first quarter, The Monarchs would get off to the fast start by scoring the games first 4 points before the Wildcats got on the board on the basket from Mary Gedaka. The Wildcats would cut into the lead and the Monarchs would take an 11-10 lead at end of first quarter.
During the second quarter, the Monarchs would get the lead up to 5 at 22-17 with 4:48 left and the Wildcats would get back into the game lead by Emily Esposito who would make some big shots including 3pointers. Monarchs would take a 29-26 lead into halftime.
In the 3rd quarter, things would get very interesting as Old Dominion would grow the lead up to 5 at 40-35 with 5:26 left, the Wildcats would fight their way back and they would take the lead late in the quarter for a 50-48 lead at the end of 3rd quarter.
In the 4th Quarter, there was a milestone reached as Mary Gedaka would reach 1,000 career points
Crowd reaction to 1,000 Points
At one point in the 4th quarter, the Monarchs would have a 9 point lead at 63-54 with 5:34 left, the Wildcats would keep fighting lead by Mary Gedaka.
With the Wildcats down 3, They would tie the game at 69 on 3 pointer from Brianna Herlihy and it would force the game into overtime.
3 by Brianna Herlihy at the buzzer:
In the overtime, the Wildcats would just take over as the 3 pointer by Brianna Herlihy would give the Wildcats new life and the Monarchs had no idea what hit them. The Wildcats would take down the Monarchs 86-81 in overtime. With the win, the Wildcats will now head on the road for a 2nd round matchup at West Virginia on Sunday, March 24.
Final Numbers
Video:
Villanova coach Harry Perretta:
Villanova Mary Gedaka:
Villanova Emily Esposito:
Villanova Brianna Herlihy:
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